Wednesday, 31 August 2016

These are some butterflies I saw when I went to the
area around the WOW RSPB Centre in Belfast last week. I am not sure but I think the first one is a Common Blue, Small White, Speckled Wood, Painted Lady and Red Admiral.

Tuesday, 30 August 2016

Last week I called into the WOW RSPB Centre in Belfast and mainly this post is about the video at the end where I photographed the 2 man made Tern islands that had Common and Arctic birds breeding. Also on the video are a good number of waders - Lapwing, Dunlin, Godwit, Knot, Curlew Sandpiper, Greenshank, Redshank and Teal. See if you can ID them all on the video.

Saturday, 27 August 2016

As I mentioned yesterday, we spend 3 nights down at my
old caravan at Whiterock and we visited another farm overlooking the water along the road and
this is where I photographed the Little Egret as well as the farm dog whose
name escaped me at present. I am linking
with SATURDAY CRITTERS.

Friday, 26 August 2016

This
week for Friday’s Hunt challenge we have the letter I, Favourite shot and Pinkand of
course also James’ Weekend Reflections. I think I will start with PINK. This a a rare water plant that according to Colleen, the owner does not flower in this area however she did not know the name of it.

Anyone know the ID? Thanks to Keith it is called Flowering-Rush.

So
as promised I said I would tell you the story of how I INJURED my little finger. You can also see my curled up INDEX finger in this shot below.

The first day my family from Malawi was here I took the children into Ward Park to play on the swings etc. and they were jumping on a piece of equipment that went round and round. So they whizzed it round then jumped on and so I thought I could do the same.I know at my age you would think I would have a bit of wit!!!Anyhow, my little finger hit a steel bar and the pain was excruciating.I moved the finger and still had full bending movement so my daughter, who like me, is a nurse strapped the 2 fingers together, using the second finger as a splint.We thought that this is all they would do in hospital.

The next day I was
taking them away to my old caravan for 3 nights. The finger was very swollen, very badly
bruised and painful and of course it was the hand I use so I very glad the
family were here to help. I carried on
and then the following week we went to Blessingbourne House for 4 days, still
very swollen and sore and now we were beginning to think it was probably broken,
however I was determined that the family were going to have a good time. We had abandoned the splint by this
time. As all my posts were scheduled in
and I was not commenting, I did not need to use the computer much.

Anyhow, when the family left N.Ireland I decided to go
to the hospital to discover a piece of bone was off the side of the finger and a
small crack was just over the knuckle and the capsule had been damaged. A
splint was made for me which I had to keep on another week, and then exercise
it another week and yesterday I saw the consultant and he said, it would take
6 months for the swelling to go down and would be painful for a while. So there you have it.

So let's have some calming reflection from the lake at Blessingbourne House now. Judith and I took the rowing boat out after dinner as the sun was going down and I thought you might like to see these reflections and perhaps have a FAVOURITE.

Thursday, 25 August 2016

These horses all live on the beautiful estate at Blessingbourne
House. The brown horse is called Toy Boy
and Colleen the owner of Blessingbourne rides him as often as possible. The two greys are Cowboy and Lola and they have never been broken in. I am linking with GOOD FENCES.

Wednesday, 24 August 2016

Once again, I am showing your photographs from Blessingbourne House when one evening Judith and I decided to take the rowing boat out. First we had to bale it out but once we were on the lake it was so peaceful and beautiful looking back at the house and its reflection in the water. Enjoy.

This is a new boat house, not yet completed so i hope the next time I am at Blessingbourne House, the boats will be undercover and I wil not have to bale them out.

I hope you enjoyed these photographs as I have many more to show you.Many thanks for visiting and also commenting. Back to hospital with broken finger tomorrow but it is improving and I will tell you all about in Friday's post.

Tuesday, 23 August 2016

Once again this is a photograph taken by Danny, a
member of my bird class.

It is a Jay. Although my finger is improving, I am tryiing still to restrict my computer time so i thankful that Danny has given permission to show this great photograph that he took. I am linking with WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY.

Monday, 22 August 2016

I have shown you a number of photographs from Blessingbourne House but I have not told you about the fabulous Mountain Bike Trails. Blessingbourne Estate’s has an exhilarating 13k Mountain Bike
Trails and pump track which provides one of Northern Ireland’s premier Mountain
Biking experiences located within the grounds of the 550 acre country Estate. CLICK HERE for more information.

Set in the heart of woodlands and wildlife nestled on the edge of County Tyrone and the Sperrins and the Fermanagh Lakelands, you can cycle through the Estate’s woods and take in the private lakes and nature reserve.

Judith and Daniel had never done anything like this before but I will show you on video below them trying the Pump Tract for the first time and then them at the start of one of the trails. A few days later I had a go at one of the easier trails and loved it. Even the Peacock tried to get in on the act.

Sunday, 21 August 2016

By this time the crowd, unwieldy and
stepping on each other’s toes, numbered into the thousands. But Jesus’ primary
concern was his disciples.

x

He said to them,

“Watch yourselves carefully so you
don’t get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness. You can’t keep
your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide
behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will
slip and your true face will be known. You can’t whisper one thing in private
and preach the opposite in public; the day’s coming when those whispers will be
repeated all over town".

Luke 12 1.3

Annika had painted her Mummy's face and then when we were at the Clougher Show, she had her own painted.

Saturday, 20 August 2016

Today I am linking with Saturday’s Critters and showing
you several clips that I have edited into this video of Annika riding on Black
Beauty at Blessingbourne House. When I
took her out at the beginning I found it too difficult to video whie leading Black
Beauty so you will also see Judith and Daniel assisting me in achieving this. Enjoy.

Friday, 19 August 2016

I am linking this post with FRIDAY’S HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTIONS and have managed to conbine all that was asked from both memes into
one photograph, mainly due to me wanting to rest my broken finger! So today, you have a SINGLE shot of a HORSE
with a REFLECTION in its eye and therefore it is my FAVOURITE!! Now how’s that for economy! He is of course Toy Boy, a horse belonging to Colleen own of Blessinbourne House.

Many bloggers have been very kind to enquire about my poor finger and very understanding about me not being able to comment as much. Quite a few have asked 'how did it happen'! Well, confession time will be next Friday with the 'Story of the broken finger'!

Thursday, 18 August 2016

This is Daniel with one of the horses at Blessingbourne
House and although I have lots more
shots and video surrounding these 2 shots, they will have to wait for another
day as I am really trying to rest my broken finger and do less on the computer
so sorry not much commenting done either.

I am linking this post with GOOD FENCES.Many thanks for your visit and all thes comments you leave here.

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About Me

I have retired from a medical background, as well as teaching a 3 year City and Guilds; and also running a Bed and Breakfast. I have taken up bird watching later in life however I became very enthusiastic from the beginning and was greatly encouraged by other bird watchers. For the past 9 years I have led a bird group in my town and have become a guest speaker on cruise ships talking about Birds around the world. I have travelled quite a bit, in particular to Australia where one of my daughters lives. I have now as many birding friends there as at home in Northern Ireland. I love Nature and being able to share that with others of like mind. I also like photography and do my best to photograph birds although I seem to be also very eclectic in what I photograph and blog these days.
I live in Northern Ireland which is part of the UK and it is a beautiful place to live however I love travelling to see places and birds that I have never seen before.